Artemis Fowl : Fall Of Haven
by Yeboo
Summary: 8 Years has passed since the Time Paradox. It's been a peaceful and happy life for our Artemis and the Fairy People so far. But when old enemies return vowing vengeance, will our heroes meet thier match?
1. Chapter 1

**AN/ This is my first ever fan fiction, so I would greatly appreciate any reviews, or constructive criticism you would care to leave me. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl or any of the Characters. Mr. Colfer does.**

Chapter One

Artemis grinned as he gazed at the screen of his laptop. Even after all of these years, hacking into a company's bank account and bypassing all of the "state of the art" security measures still caused him a large amount of satisfaction. Although he had swore to himself that he would move all of his assets to more tasteful business ventures, he still could not resist exposing the odd company of its various illegal actions.

However, this wasn't only for his own benefit, as he was now a multi-billionaire; even more so than before. At age 26, He has been the winner of 4 Nobel Science Awards, and has patented more inventions than anyone since… since, well ever. After he hacked into any bank account, he would then immediately donate the funds to various charities around the world; keeping 10 percent of all proceedings of course.

It was then that he heard a light knock at the door of his study.

"Come in," Artemis called. Butler's massive frame came through the doorway; his eyes squinted, trying to adjust to the darkness of the room.

"Artemis, it's time for supper. You know how your mother gets when you're late for family meals," Butler told his young charge; or his ex-charge, so to speak. For 8 years now, Butler had been retired because the Kevlar that had been weaved inside his chest had been causing the Eurasian more and more discomfort as the years went by. Sometimes he found himself breathing heavily after climbing the flight of stairs necessary to get to Artemis' study.

"Of course," Artemis replied. "I'll be right down." Artemis powered down his laptop and followed after Butler. While walking down the stairs he started to ponder at how well things had turned out for him, his family, and the fairy people.

After Holly and Nº1 had left for Haven, he had talked to his mother about his adventures with the fairy people over the past few years. Angeline was quiet during the whole story, but you could clearly see the changing expressions on her face; ranging from amused, to horrified in certain places. By the time Artemis had finished, it was late morning the next day.

Angeline was silent for a long time, seemingly contemplating over what her son had told her.

"Mother, are you alright?" Artemis had asked. He was concerned over his mother's silence, wondering what she could be thinking. Could she be thinking that her own son was a criminal? Well technically he was, but somehow the thought of his mother-

"Artemis," said Angeline, interrupting Artemis' thoughts. "This Holly girl…" she started. Artemis' paused, wondering why out of all the seemingly mind blowing and earth shattering facts he had just told her, would she single out Holly and ask about her.

"Yes Mother? What about Holly?" He asked feeling some sort of foreboding that he couldn't quite place.

"Do you like her?" Angeline asked simply. Her eyes bore into Artemis' own, almost causing Artemis' to feel forced to look away. _Almost._ No one could stare down Artemis Fowl!

"Of course Mother, I respect Holly greatly, and I consider her one of my best acquaintances." Artemis replied coolly. However, he couldn't suppress the slightest anxious undertone in his statement.

Angeline's eyes narrowed, detecting it. "No Artemis, I meant that if you _like_ her." Artemis, was frankly, flummoxed. He had left out the emotional aspects of the stories, sticking only to what absolutely was necessary. He hadn't even mentioned how after they got back from Hybras how they had hugged and she had kissed him on the cheek. Nor did he mention how she had kissed him in the gorilla cage.

Thinking about the kiss Holly had given him, Artemis felt subtle warmth creeping up into his cheeks. _What is that? _Artemis wondered briefly, before the truth struck him causing his eyes to open wide in horror.

Artemis Fowl was _blushing._

Artemis Fowl? Blushing? That's unheard of!

Unfortunately for him, his mother had noticed the slight pink that now accompanied Artemis' usually pale features, and grinned.

"You do like her!" Angeline exclaimed. "Oh my little Arty has his first girlfriend!" A large smile spread across her face, and her eyes radiated excitement.

"Mother," Artemis groaned, cursing his bodily functions. _Damn! I've never blushed before, and my body chooses this in-opportune time to start? _"I like Holly only as a friend and nothing more." He said sternly.

Angeline however, wasn't fooled. "Okay, whatever you say Arty. But I'd like to meet her." Artemis was about to say something, but she stopped him with a wave of her hand. "Besides, after what you told me, we owe Holly our lives; for curing me, and healing your father in the Russia. The least I could do is give her my thanks."

Artemis couldn't argue. It did in fact make sense that my mother wanted to meet Holly, after she had done so much for us. The problem was that the fairies didn't even know that his mother knew everything. They couldn't have guessed that it would be one of the side effects from having Opal manipulate Angeline's mind. Artemis had no idea how they would react.

"I'll see what I can do, Mother." Artemis said.

Artemis was snapped out of his thoughts by someone calling his name. It was Myles, his little brother 

now 10 years old. He was holding a mug, probably filled with espresso sachets and treacle; his favourite drink.

"Are you coming to dinner Artemis?" little Myles inquired. "Everyone's waiting for you."

Artemis smiled down at his little brother. "Lead the way, professor Myles."

**AN/ Thanks for reading, and again, if you were to take some time to write me a review or any constructive criticism on anything, it would be greatly appreciated. **


	2. Chapter 2

**AN/ Thank you, so much to everyone who reviewed! Whenever I get those kind words I always get that warm, fuzzy feeling. Hehehe…**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Chapter Two

Holly Short glared at the intimidating stack of paperwork on her desk. She sighed and wondered for perhaps the millionth time, if she had done the right thing when she accepted her promotion to Major. In her times as Captain Holly Short, she had helped put down a goblin revolution, recovered stolen fairy technology from a Mud Man in Chicago, she had thwarted a plot to expose the subterranean fairy culture, she had helped save the entire 8th family from extinction, and she had traveled through time.

And here she was, doing paperwork.

When Commander Kelp offered her the promotion, she had been about to decline, but then she remembered the words of Julius Root. _This promotion isn't for you; it's for the fairy people._

At first when she had gotten her promotion, she had put all of her effort to do the job as perfect as possible. She would take on the endless amounts of paper work with vigour and would always have them in weeks before they were due.

But as the years went by, Holly found her determination wavering. Her assignments would come in slower and slower, until she was faced with a mountain (and I mean this literally) of paperwork. To put it frankly, Holly was _bored._

She craved for the adventures she had during her time as LEPrecon captain. She longed for the adrenaline that coursed through her veins during a dangerous assignment. She wished she could again breathe the fresh surface air, (fresh being a relative term, as surface air is laced with so many pollutants) and feel the wind rushing by her as she flew aboveground.

But alas, she was here in her office, signing papers, and stamping notes. Not exactly the rush one would expect.

_Things could be worse, _Holly thought lazily. _At least I'm not on traffic duty. _Holly shuddered at the thought.

At times like these, Holly even half-wished that there would be another national crises, just so there would be something to do; like, the Opal incident a few years ago.

The Opal from the past had broken present Opal free and together they came up with another plot to expose the Fairy's to the humans. Fortunately, Artemis and Foaly had been able to hack into Opal's security systems and Holly and a squadron of LEPretrieval units had been able to apprehend them.

The Opal from the past had been mind wiped, and sent back to her own time, while the Opal in the present was sent to a maximum security jail, custom built for the pixie. After two breakouts, the council wasn't going to take chances with her.

Opal was however, in a catatonic state in her cell ward, and they had immediately suspected another clone. They dismissed the thought however, as the facility was manned by only LEP personal, each swabbed five times a day by a DNA scanner to make sure they were who they looked like. No more traitorous pixie janitors to bust her out.

After the near avoided catastrophe, the Council had forbidden any sort of un-authorized communication aboveground. This also meant that there would be no more talking on a certain stolen fairy communicator.

"What?!" Holly had yelled, furious that the Council would not allow any calls to and from Artemis. "After all he's done for the People, you won't even let us _talk_?"

Trouble didn't even flinch in his swivel chair. "It's out of my hands, Holly. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to try and round up a certain dwarf. Furty managed to escape after we tried to dig Opal out of the rubble." And with that Trouble dismissed her with a wave of his hand and turned his attention to his monitor.

Fuming silently, Holly had left Commander Kelp's office, her hands in fists at her sides, slightly trembling.

It was highly unfortunate, that Foaly had chosen that time to tease her about her relationship with Artemis.

"Aw, is Holly going to miss little Arty?" Foaly crooned, as he trotted passed her. Holly turned around, hell-fury in her eyes. Foaly looked at her, and his face went white with fear.

"H-Holly, you know I'm only joking right?" he stammered, backing away slowly. Holly started to advance. "Holly! Come on now, no need for any r-rash actions…" his voice trailed off at the site of her cracking her knuckles.

Foaly turned around and ran as fast as his four legs would carry him. It wasn't fast enough.

This however doesn't mean that she exactly followed the rules. She and Artemis still kept in contact over the years, but only with audio transmissions. If they were to use video conferencing, the chance of discovery was much higher.

As Holly was remembering this, she realized that this was exactly what she needed; a chat with Artemis. It would at least be better than sitting at her desk, trying to disintegrate her paperwork with the intensity of her glare.

Holly pulled out a fairy headset communicator, and typed in the necessary sequence of numbers that would connect her to Artemis' own.

Artemis was at the dinner table when he felt the gentle vibrations of his phone in his pant pocket.

"If you'll excuse me," Artemis said, while he walked out of the dining table. He glanced at the caller ID, and answered his phone.

"Hello?" he asked in gnomish.

"Hello James, it's been a while." Holly replied. The alias was necessary, just in case someone happened to be listening in to their conversation. To everyone else, Artemis was Holly's friend James, who lived in Atlantis.

"Hello, Holly," Artemis replied casually, "How have you been?" Artemis was wondering why she had chosen to call him now. Holly still called him sometimes when she would need help with the odd case the LEP wasn't able to solve, but the last time she had made any form of contact had been several months ago.

"Fine, really; just extremely bored." Holly replied in a chit-chatty tone.

"Oh, so you won't be asking for any help with a case this time?" Artemis asked in a slightly mocking tone. He found it amusing that the Fairy people still needed his help when so many times before, they acted like they were relieved to be rid of him.

Holly sighed. "Can't I just call to say hello?" she asked a bit irritably. She had thought that the arrogant, stuck up, know-it-all Artemis Fowl had disappeared. Over the years, Artemis had become more charitable. He was no longer the aloof, cold hearted boy he had been.

He could still prove to be an extremely unpleasant man sometimes, (to put it mildly) but it was still an improvement from the boy who had kidnapped a fairy to acquire gold all those years ago.

Artemis nearly chuckled out loud. "You've never done so before." He remarked coolly.

Holly snorted. Here she was, calling Artemis hoping to have an enjoyable chat with him, and instead she ended up getting annoyed instead. Then again, she wondered when she ever thought Artemis' company 

_enjoyable. _There were many things Holly could have used to describe Artemis Fowl, and _enjoyable_ was not one of those things.

As Holly thought his, she couldn't help but think that it wasn't exactly true. After Opal had been captured, Artemis was allowed to stay in Haven for a few days to recover. Artemis had to be extremely close to Opal's facility to get a signal when he had hacked into her defence systems, and unfortunately, he was caught in the crossfire.

However, the only place Artemis could have stayed without alerting the general fairy populace of his presence was in Holly's flat. Holly vehemently refused to let Fowl live in her house, but she had no choice. Artemis had undergone intense magical surgery, when he had been shot three times in the chest by a laser that was set way above the recommended stun velocity.

The fairy medical warlocks had wanted to keep an eye on him for the next few days, to make sure everything was in working order.

"Let him lose a few brain cells…" Holly had muttered under her breath as Artemis was brought into her house.

_It's going to be okay,_ Holly thought to herself as she followed after Artemis. _He's only staying for three days._

Unfortunately, after that first day, Holly swore she would go mad before the three day time period was over. Artemis had been complaining about the lack of books in Holly's possession. He said that if he didn't get some _intellectual nourishment _anytime soon, his brain would be reduced to rotten fungus.

So instead, Artemis had satisfied himself with watching _National Geographic_ on Holly's television.

When Artemis had found this channel, he had raised an eyebrow at Holly. "Why do you have human channels being broadcasted underground?"

Holly rolled her eyes. "It's Foaly. He loves human shows. He's managed to get a few of them in Haven." Normally Holly would have been grateful that Artemis had found something to distract himself with, had he been willing to relinquish is hold on the television remote.

"Give me the remote Mud Boy," Holly had growled after a debate over what channel the television should be displaying at the moment. She wanted to watch the finals of the NCBL play-offs, (Nation Crunchball League) but Artemis wanted to continue the Documentary on airport security.

"No," Artemis had replied, his voice icy.

"Why do you want to watch this stuff anyway?" Holly had yelled, exasperated. "You already know how all of that works!"

"I just find it amusing how they think they have a foolproof state-of-the-art security system that even a child could bypass." Artemis replied, his eyes not once leaving the television screen. Just then he shook his head at the screen and mumbled _idiots_, under his breath.

A vein pulsed in Holly's temple.

"Artemis, if you do not give me the remote this instant…" Holy said her voice low, eyes with a dangerous glint in them.

Artemis turned to look at her. "Or what?" he asked challengingly.

And that's when Holly lunged.

Remembering this, Holly laughed out loud.

"What are you laughing at?" Artemis wondered. Holly had been silent for a few minutes now, and he was just about to ask if there was anything wrong.

"Just remembering how a certain somebody refused to give me the remote to my television, and promptly learned his lesson." Holly said innocently.

Artemis winced, his hand going up to touch the space under his left eye where she had punched him. "Hilarious, Holly," Artemis muttered dryly.

Holly chuckled. "Yeah, too bad I didn't get it on tape. Foaly would have loved to see that."

Artemis' face darkened. "You know what else Foaly would have loved to see?" Artemis asked slyly. "The morning after."

Holly blushed, remembering what happened.

"So, where do I sleep?" Artemis had asked, keeping an icepack over his left eye, which was slowly turning purple. Just then, Holly had remembered one tiny detail she had forgotten.

She only had one bed.

She didn't even have a couch for him to sleep on. In the living room was an assortment of chairs that one couldn't sleep on if their life depended on it.

"Umm…" Holly trailed off, wondering what to say. She could hardly ask him to sleep on her hard, cold floors could she? She didn't even have an extra blanket so he could lie down on that.

As Holly was desperately searching her head for a solution to this, Artemis was behind her, wondering why she wasn't answering him. _She must have gone mad._ He thought idly.

"Holly? What's the matter?" Artemis asked. Holly turned around, her face red.

"I… I only have one bed, Artemis." She mumbled. Artemis was silent for a while as he contemplated what she just said. As the truth hit him, he blushed and looked at the floor. Oh. _Oh._

"Oh…" Artemis trailed off. What followed was an extremely awkward silence that seemed to go on for ages.

"Well, come on then," Holly said ruefully. She hated having to share a bed with Artemis. It was just so… _weird._

Artemis silently followed her into her bedroom, having already changed into his bed clothes.

"Ok, we're going to have to share a bed, so I just want to get some things straight." Holly said sternly, although unable to keep the blush from her cheeks.

Artemis snapped out of his embarrassed state, his eyes narrowing at the tone she was using. Her tone was reproachful, but demanding at the same time. It was as if she was _expecting_ him to try something. Honestly!

"Just stay on your side, and I'll stay on mine. Clear?" Although it was phrased as a question, you really had no choice in the matter. In Holly's eyes, it carried out the silent message, _Disagree and I'll rip your throat out._ Not that Artemis had any problems with this. He gave her a curt nod.

"And keep your hands to yourself!" she added.

"Oh I don't think there will be any problems with that, captain." Artemis replied cynically.

After this, they both got into the bed, backs turned, and they fell into a nervous sleep.

The next morning, Holly woke up feeling strangely content. She breathed in, seeking the fresh lavender scent that greeted her every morning. Only it wasn't the scent of lavender the reached her nose. Frowning slightly, she tried to identify the scent.

It wasn't that it was bad; in fact it was very pleasant. She just couldn't place what it was. Suddenly, she became are that she felt a pair of arms around her. Her frown deepened. Whose arms were those? She didn't mind really. Actually, it felt quite-

And that's when she remembered whom she had been sharing her bed with. She slowly opened her eyes, scared to see what she already knew.

There he was, still sleeping, his arms around her. And here _she_ was, _snuggling against his chest!_

Instantly she jumped off the bed, flinging herself to the other side of the room. Artemis woke up with a start at the sudden movement.

"What? What's happening?" Artemis said drowsily, through a yawn. Holly glared at him from the other side of the room.

"Didn't I say to keep your hands to yourself Fowl?" Holly growled. Artemis had no idea what Holly was talking about. He had just woken up, and his brain wasn't fully awake yet.

"Sorry, what?" Artemis asked, confused. Holly's glare intensified.

"You know what I'm talking about Mud Boy! When did you decide to snuggle up to me, huh?" Holly yelled, her fury growing with each syllable.

"Oh, that." Artemis yawned, seemingly perfectly at ease.

"Yes, that." Holly replied sarcastically. Artemis looked at her and smirked in his usual infuriating way.

"I did exactly as I was told to do, Holly. I kept my hands to myself. _You _however…" Artemis trailed off.

"Me?" Holly asked incredulously, "What did _I _do?"

"Well," Artemis continued obviously enjoying himself. "I woke up earlier, and was about to get up when you said my name in your sleep and you…" he paused for effect. "_Snuggled up to me."_ He finished.

Holly stared at him, eyes wide and disbelieving. _He_ accused _her _of _snuggling _up to _him?!_ That's impossible! She would never do that! Would she? No, definitely not.

"I don't believe you Fowl." Holly told him.

"Well why were we at _my side_ of the bed then? If I were the one to do this, we would most likely be at your side, correct?" Artemis pointed out.

"You could've easily dragged me over to your side!" Holly said, refusing to believe that she had snuggled up to Artemis Fowl.

"Without waking you up? I think not, captain." he replied smoothly.

Holly stared at him, warmth beginning to creep up her cheeks.

"I swear Mud Boy, if you tell anyone about this-" Holly didn't get to finish her threat, because Artemis waved a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry Holly," Artemis replied a bit smug. "I won't tell anyone."

Artemis waited for her response on the phone, triumphant. Well, that's what she gets for bringing that television incident up.

"Art- James…" Holly began nervously, nearly forgetting about his alias.

"Yes, Holly?" Artemis asked pleasantly.

"You… you didn't tell anyone, did you?" Holly asked, unsure. He hasn't mentioned that since that morning, and his mentioning of it now made her nervous.

Silence on the other end of the line.

"Art- James! Did you tell anyone?!" Holly's voice rose in pitch. She had almost forgotten about his alias again.

"It may have slipped my mouth a few times…" Artemis said innocently. Clearly he was enjoying this immensely.

"James, I swear if you don't tell me right now, I will-"Holly never got to finish her threat, because just then, the building wall 10feet from Holly exploded into a thousand pieces.

**AN/ Oooh, a cliffie. Don't you love those things? Once again, if you were to take the time to grace me with a review, it would be greatly appreciated! **


	3. Chapter 3

**AN/ Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Sorry for the late update, school's started and I've got to get all that stuff ready and blah blah blah. Wonderful time I've chosen to start writing a fan fiction eh?**

Chapter 3

The smirk left Artemis' face when he heard a loud bang and a piercing screech of interference went through his phone.

"D'Arvit!" Holly said in her communicator.

"Holly?" Artemis asked. "What's going on?" he waited for a reply. None came. "Holly!" he said, starting to become concerned. What had happened? "Holly! Talk to me!"

Nothing but static reached his ears.

His mind raced, trying to make out what had happened on the other end of the line. Holly had been about to threaten him with God knows what, and then he had heard a loud bang. What had that been? His heart started to quicken its pace in his chest. What if Holly was in trouble?

_She could have just tripped and dropped the phone,_ Artemis reminded himself. _You may just be overreacting and Holly would have a good laugh at this if she found out._

However, Artemis found it highly unlikely that Holly had dropped the communicator for two reasons. One: Holly was extremely co-ordinated and it was highly unlikely that she'd just trip over her own feet. Two: That loud bang he had heard didn't exactly sound like a phone hitting the ground. It sounded bigger; a lot bigger.

Artemis ran up to his room with a speed that someone who knew him would have sworn that he was incapable of.

Artemis pulled out his phone and connected it to his personal computer, running cross references with the sound he had heard on his phone. Artemis' phone saves the last conversation that's been had on it on a temporary hard drive. This lets Artemis review the conversation later if needed, or he can take bits and pieces of it to make an everyday conversation sound like the person was confessing to a national crime. All in all, a very useful thing.

When the results were finished, the computer had identified the sound as one of two things. The first, was of an extremely heavy object crashing through a wall, (which Artemis dismissed as it was highly unlikely that a random object would just crash through Police Plaza) or some sort of explosion.

Artemis froze. _Explosion_.

This was even more unlikely than the first. Who would attack Police Plaza?

Although this was bordering on the impossible, it would make more sense. The LEP was not without enemies, and many a criminal would be glad to launch an attack on Police Plaza. However, the compound had DNA cannons placed at strategic points (Some harmless hacking had given Artemis the blueprints to Police Plaza) ensuring that no un-authorized personnel could even get close. Thinking of this another question settled in Artemis' head.

How did they get passed the centaur's defences?

"D'Arvit!" Holly cursed. She dropped the fairy communicator and sprinted to the nearest form of cover; which in this case, was a plant pot. Holly's hand instinctively fell to her hip to grab her Neutrino, only to grasp at empty air.

"D'Arvit!" she cursed again. All weapons and equipment were kept in Ops; which incidentally, was on the other side of Police Plaza. She looked around the office to see if anyone was injured, and was relieved to find that everyone was healthy.

_What the hell's going on? _Holly wondered while trying to see through the dust and debris. Just then a bullet shot out of the dust, missing Holly's head by millimetres.

Holly ducked instantly, cursing under her breath. "We're under fire!" she shouted out into the office. "Everyone out!" Just as everyone was about to run towards the exit doors, a hail of bullets came through the hole in the wall, making movement impossible.

Well, you could move. That is if you wanted to get shot.

Holly realizing that her plant pot wasn't providing much cover ran out and sprinted to the nearest desk. A roar of gunfire erupted right as Holly ran from behind the plant pot, the bullets barely missing her. She dove behind the desk, crashing into the fairy that was hiding there.

"Come on!" Holly shouted to the elf. "Help me move the desk to the others!"

When the fairy made no move, she stopped to actually look at the elf, and found a terrified Grub Kelp whimpering under the desk.

"Grub! Help me move the desk so we can make a barricade!" Holly shouted. Grub whimpered again and muttered something under his breath. It sounded suspiciously like _I want my mommy._

"Damn it Grub! If you don't help me move this desk to the others, so help me I will tell Trouble to kick you in the ass." Holly threatened. Why did she have to duck behind the desk that _Grub _was hiding behind?

He winced and slowly nodded. "Fine," he said through wobbly lips.

Together, Holly and Grub pushed the desk towards the stranded fairies that couldn't move without getting shot, creating a moving barrier of sorts.

"Barricade!" Holly shouted into the office. "Bring the desks closer together!" as she was shouting orders into the room, a bullet crashed through the desk, creating a neat little hole just in front of her nose.

Holly cursed and ducked. _How did they get passed the Plaza's defences?_ Holly wondered while pushing the desk towards another that was being pushed by a gnome. _If I ever get out of this, I'm going to talk to that centaur about his so called perfect defence system._

The aforementioned centaur was typing furiously at his keyboard. This was impossible! His DNA cannons had been shut off, his cameras had been looped, and none of his computers were responding to any of his commands.

Foaly swore under his breath as the system denied another one of his attempts to retake control of his Ops Booth. Someone had hacked into his system? _His_ system? He was the greatest technical genius under the face of the earth, and someone had managed to break through his encryptions as if they were nothing more than a simple symmetric-key algorithm. _Impossible._

There was only one fairy capable of doing this, and she was currently in a coma inside a custom made LEP prison.

After another 5 minutes, he had finally managed to at least get control of communications. He immediately sent a message to relay throughout Police Plaza.

"We're under attack! We're under attack! Section 2C is surrounded and LEP personnel are stuck inside. Lend immediate assistance!"

Instantly a video link was fed through to the centaur's screens showing a very angry Commander Kelp.

"Foaly! What the hell are you talking about? I'm looking at section 2C right now and everything's fine." Trouble hated it when the centaur overreacted. Once he had done a city wide lock down because he heard on the Sentinel these words: "Tonight we will slay those accursed elves, and Haven will be ours!" It turned out that it was a 13 year old boy playing on his computer.

"What do you mean everything's fine?" Foaly looked at the commander incredulously. "Do you not see the gaping hole in the east wall?"

Trouble looked over, and found the wall in question safe and intact. "Foaly, I think you've gone crazy." He muttered.

Foaly was silent for a moment, tapping away at his keyboard. "Light Distortion Projector." He muttered. "D'Arvit how'd they get a hold of those?"

"Foaly! What are you-" But the words died in Trouble's mouth as Foaly send him a live video feed coming from section 2C.

Trouble slammed down the intercom button. "All available units suit up and head to section 2C immediately!" Trouble then sprinted out of his office, leaving his swivel chair spinning behind him.

Yet another bullet broke through the desk and slammed into the wall behind it. Holly and the others had managed to make a crude barricade near the supplies closet, but the desk was practically see through. There was barely an inch of desk that hadn't been marred with a bullet hole.

_Where the hell is our backup? _Holly shouted in her head. _They should've been here by now!_ So far they had managed to keep the attackers at bay by throwing sharp objects at the enemies trying to advance.

_This is ridiculous, _Holly thought. _If they were any decent of a hit squad, we would all be dead by now. I mean they have bullets, and we're throwing scissors at them. Honestly._

Then Holly recognized the significance of her words. If they had managed to mount an assault on Police Plaza, you could be sure they were all highly trained special operatives. This could only mean that this whole thing is a distraction.

_But what else could they want?_ Holly thought. Then another thought struck Holly, making the blood run out of her face.

They were using _bullets._ Not lasers, not even Softnose rifles. _Bullets. _That could only mean…

No! Humans couldn't have possibly gotten underground. That was impossible! But yet, here was an unseen force armed with _mudman technology. _Crude, but still very effective.

Holly suddenly noticed a change in the attackers. Their shots suddenly stopped being inaccurate and they were bringing down fairies left and right.

"D'Arvit!" Holly shouted out. "Grab someone that's injured and pull everyone into the storage room! Back! Back!"

_There's no way we're going to make it,_ Holly thought grimly. _If any help is coming they will not make it in time._

Just then a small object was tossed over the desks and bounced to a stop a few feet away. Holly remembered seeing this device somewhere. Perhaps from her studies on mudman warfare back in her times in the LEP academy.

_Grenade. _Holly remembered. She was frozen for about a tenth of a second before she reacted. She sprinted towards the grenade, picked it up and threw with all her might towards the attackers. But even with Holly's split second reactions, she couldn't toss the grenade away quick enough to escape the blast radius.

Holly felt intense heat, and then searing pain throughout her entire body. She was knocked back, colliding with the wall behind her. Through her near-deaf ears, she could faintly hear the sounds of laser bursts and running feet.

_At least the others are going to make it, _Holly thought wearily, before her world turned black.

Holly woke up slowly, her vision slowly fading into focus as she regained her senses. She looked around and found that she was in a hospital ward.

"Holly! You're awake!" Holly looked toward the sound of the voice and found Trouble standing beside her bed, looking anxiously at her. For a few seconds, Holly didn't remember what had happened. Then her memory flooded back to her.

She bolted upright, feeling searing pain in her left shoulder as she did so.

Trouble gently pushed her back down into her bead. "You've got to rest," he said. "Your magic wasn't enough to completely heal you."

"Trouble," Holly said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "What happened?" Trouble sighed in frustration. The room went silent.

"The truth is, we don't know Holly." Trouble said. "We have no idea how anyone managed to hack into Foaly's system, we haven't got a clue how they managed to smuggle firearms down to Haven, and worst of all, we don't even know who _they _are!"

While Trouble said this, his voice got louder and louder, and by the end of the statement, he was practically yelling. After a moment, he calmed down and sat down in a nearby chair.

"We've got no idea what we're dealing with." He muttered under his breath.

Holly looked at Trouble and noticed that she had never seen him this stressed before. His eyes were sunken in, there were bags under his eyes, and his mouth seemed to set into a permanent scowl. _It must be tough being the Commander, _Holly thought.

"Is everyone all right? Do we at least know what the purpose behind the attack was?" Holly asked. Surely they knew that much.

"Yeah, everyone made it." Trouble said. "A few close calls," Trouble stopped to look down at Holly, "But everyone made it."

Holly felt relieved. Everyone survived. "Then what was the point in attacking us then? If not to kill anyone, then why? Was anything stolen?" Holly felt that she should remember something. She was trying to catch the memory, but whenever it seemed she was right on the verge of remembering, it would slip away again.

"No, nothing was stolen. So far there doesn't seem to be any other motive other than just for the sake of attacking us. Perhaps to check our defences, our response time." As he said this his face darkened. "They managed to set up an Elldee and some sort of an anti-sound barrier. If it wasn't for Foaly…" His voice trailed off.

Holly then remembered what she had realized in the office, feeling a shock run through her body as she did so. "Trouble…" she started. He looked at her, his eyebrows lifted in question.

"What if this whole thing was a-"just then Foaly's face appeared on a wall screen, red alert lights flashing behind him.

"Commander!" Foaly said his voice urgent. "There was a distress beacon that was active for about an hour."

"WHAT?" Trouble screamed into the screen, causing Foaly to flinch. "AN HOUR?" the Commander's face was so red, it may have rivalled that of Julius Root's.

"We didn't notice it because we were under attack at the time." Holly swore. Her suspicions were right. It was all a distraction. "The Haven Philosophers District was raided." Foaly went on.

"Nº1 and Qwan have been kidnapped."

**AN/ Gasp Oh the horror! Review please!**


End file.
